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New Routes to Governance: A Review of Cases in Participation, Transparency, and Accountability
in situations in which civic participation is inequitable, women in particular may be sidelined or treated as a homogeneous group (Gujit and Shah 1998). This enables a vicious circle through which weaker voices may not be heard and may not be motivated enough to participate again. In addition to the isolated expectations of transparency, accountability, and participation, questions need to be asked and answered regarding the triangular causal relationship assumed to exist between them. When information is made “transparent” about the laws that govern us or the services that are provided to us, it is assumed that those who are responsible for creating and enforcing laws and delivering services can be held to account. Empirical evidence, however, does not indicate a straightforward causal link between transparency and accountability (Fox 2007). Instead it suggests a need for further clarification on varying levels. Under what conditions can transparency lead to accountability? What forms of transparency generate what types of accountability? For example, will easier access by citizens to knowledge about the time that a public service is set to be delivered push public officials toward efficiency? Joshi offers rationale for the possibility of a broken causal link: “Public providers may be immune to exposure of poor performance, increased citizen voice may be met with backlash and reprisals, lack of resources may constrain public officials’ capacity to respond, and accountability mechanisms may not be enough of a deterrent” (Joshi 2010, 6). One final grand assumption is that increased transparency and accountability initiatives will lead to greater citizen awareness of rights and, hence, inclusion, notably demonstrated through civic participation by the previously uninformed and excluded. This remains a hard argument to make given (a) the dearth of evidence on what kinds of transparency and accountability lead to greater awareness and (b) the lack of understanding about the extent to which the “empowerment effect” trickles down to the least empowered (Joshi 2010; McGee and Gaventa 2010).
The Role of ICTs The 2004 World Development Report called for a “short route” to accountability—direct linkages between users and providers—as a replacement for the failing “long-route” mechanisms by which accountability is achieved through the intervention of public officials and elected political figures (World Bank 2004). This call to action spurred a body of literature examining how best to shorten the route by strengthening and providing a platform for voice, improving transparency, and enhancing accountability (Sirker and Cosi 2007). The outcome and general consensus was that ICTs offer great potential to this end. In theory, technologies have the ability to improve accountability, transparency, and participation in the following ways: • Reducing the distance between government service provider and user by providing greater access to decision makers and information through platforms for raising issues and concerns Closing the Feedback Loop • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0191-4